Education Minister, Dolores Cristina, and Health Minister, Joe Cassar, yesterday paid a visit to Sliema Primary School, where an online surveillance system now enables family doctors and parents to monitor their child’s health and assess their educational development as they grow older.

Parents, family doctors and nurses that visit State schools gain access to the data by logging on to the school’s network, using a username and private password.

“This innovative electronic system allows for the monitoring of progress from a child’s birth up until the end of primary education. The way things were run previously included a lot of data on various papers and files, which on more than one occasion would somehow end up lost, leading to a lot of difficulties to retrieve lost data.

“With the launch of the new system, teachers, parents, family doctors and nurses can now look into matters concerning their child and look into aspects in which their child could improve,” said Victoria Farrugia Sant Angelo, a clinical coordinator on behalf of primary child health.

Health Minister Joe Cassar echoed Dr Sant Angelo’s words, adding that “the Health Ministry constantly pays a lot of attention to the development of children in schools, focusing on what measures need to be taken to enhance children’s well being. A case in point was the outbreak of the swine flu pandemic, were precautions where at a maxim to make sure that no child contracts the disease while attending school.

“Children’s development is crucial at a tender age, as it involves a great deal of psychological and physical development. By means of this new system, both the family doctor and parents can now analyse statistics and data to see how their child is progressing as time goes by,” said Minister Cassar.

Also taking the time to say a few words was Education Minister Dolores Cristina, who said that the two ministries continuously liaise to come up with policies which cater for the well being of the up and coming generation.

“This new system will help all those concerned about their child’s upbringing to get a clearer picture on their current ways and habits of living. Unfortunately, sometimes, children and their parents do not communicate effectively and productively, so it is up to others to see to their upbringing. This new system sees that a child gets the necessary medical attention he or she needs,” said Ms Cristina.